I weighed 164 this morning before jumping in the shower. Another loss that I will hopefully be able to hang onto.

I made it to the gym on Saturday. There were only two other people there when I arrived, and they left fairly quickly so I was by myself for a bit. I was there just over an hour, and did 40 minutes on the treadmill, some lifting and then stretched and went home. I went 3.03 miles on the treadmill, so i'm happy with that pace seeing as I missed almost three weeks of running. No shin splints at all! So far so good :)

The rest of the weekend seemed to fly right by and here it is, Monday again. I've taken the afternoon off work and I plan to watch afternoon soaps the whole time and maybe nap, LOL. Have a great day everyone!

Brr!

It's minus 39 celsius with windchill this morning. I'm struggling to convince myself that it's ok; to start up the car and make the trip to the gym. It hasn't worked yet, but i've had my oatmeal and cup of coffee, so anytime now I can force myself to go. I thought if I came on here and shared with all of you, it might give me some extra motivation to get there.

While I am arguing with myself, I thought i'd share a picture of my new-old treadmill with you!

Don't mind the quality - I left my camera at work so i'm using my blackberry to take the pictures. Anyways, it's a nice old one! Those handles on each side? I grip them pretty hard because i'm still so scared of the thing. I can't run on this yet - too scared - which is why I need to go to the gym this morning.

And heck, why not? Here's a picture of Dog hanging out on the couch.

Don't worry, she's scheduled for a haircut on March 9th. I think for hallowe'en she wants to be a lion...

I'm still riding a high from receiving my runners yesterday; i'm so pumped :-)

I went for another walk on the treadmill and boy, do these runners ever make a difference compared to the hard, cheaper runners I was using before.  It will take a bit to get used to them, so i've brought them to work with me today and i'm going to walk around with them all day and hopefully break 'em in a bit.  I have a run planned for tomorrow morning which I was going to do outside, but I think i'll hit up the gym instead so I can use my new runners :-)

Now that boot camp sessions are over, i'm feeling fidgety and anxious because i'm not doing anything substantial for exercise right now.  But once I get back into running i'll be burning up the calories.  That's the plan, anyways!

I also got started on the first of my new books, "Dead Witch Walking"

(yes, i'm a fan of fantasy and folklore).  It was a hard start, but now that i'm almost halfway through it (speedy gonzales) it's starting to get more interesting.  The first book in a series is usually always a little slow.

It's really cold here this morning, minus 42 celsius with windchill.  Gosh, i've had enough of winter.  Enough!

I got my runners in the mail today!!! LOVE!

They are Mizuno Wave Rider 13's! It's like moving on air :)

The only issue with this is that I also received four brand new books to read. Oh gawd. What to do.

It's a comedic tragedy.

I was all set to write a new entry today, and on the main Diet Diaries page I scanned the forum headlines and the top one said "Buttermilk Pumpkin Walnut Muffins".

I just can't concentrate on an entry anymore.  I want a muffin.

Well, even though I was not feeling well yesterday (or maybe because I was not feeling well) I jumped on the treadmill at home for a quick walk.  I could definitely feel it in my calves, so i'm not very pleased with myself for getting away from the exercise - it only means i'll have to start at the beginning again.

Anyways, the little walk worked wonders.  The wee wittle walk worked wonders.

Not right away, of course, but I woke up this morning feeling tonnes better and without the full, bloated feeling of yesterday.  Gotta say i'm fairly certain it had something to do with my gall bladder, but let's move on.  I skipped breakfast this morning because I was scared the fullness would come back, opting for liquid heaven (coffee) instead, but brought some trail mix to work with me to snack on throughout the morning.  Love me some almonds!

I watched Glee last night - anyone else?  I was aware that the show's message had something to do with underage drinking, but I didn't really feel like they actually got to the point.  I kinda felt like they were kind of lax about the whole thing.  What did you think?  I was very happy that "Brittany" finally got to show some talent!  She's an awesome dancer.

I hope it warms up outside today so that I can take Dog for a walk after work so she'll stop with the puppy dog beggy eyes already :P  I also need to get a bank deposit ready and start working on the second draft of our slo-pitch team's logo.  Wow, I didn't realize I had such a full day ahead of me!

I think I would like to get through two weeks without having sickness bring me down.  I woke up this morning with an odd feeling in my stomach that I still haven't been able to shake and it's already well into the afternoon.

I had a lovely four-day weekend and am really not so happy about having to come back to work today :P  It will be so nice to get some holidays in at some point this spring - i'm hoping for two weeks in April just to wind-down from the winter and gear-up for the spring and summer.  I seriously can't wait for spring at this point.  I'm so irritated with the condition of the roads, the silly weather changing all the time, and the blinding snow.  I'm just done with it all!  I want to get back to bbq'ing and sitting out on the deck in my backyard, playing ball and enjoying the warmth of the sun.

No word yet on the status of the request to reconsider my wage.  I have a sneaky feeling it will take some time as our Human Resource dept has not been very willing to help out.

I have an errand to run after work today, but then I think i'll be heading home and trying to deal with this stomach thing.  I feel like I need a nap, but I always feel this way in the afternoon ;)

I'm glad I ranted yesterday about my job, and I appreciate all the comments and feedback and advice - I just didn't have anyone else to complain to :(

I've talked to my current supervisor and i've talked to my old supervisor. They tell me that the reason some people are at a higher pay grade ($8,000 per year more) is because of who they report to (i.e. they report to a Vice President, I reported to a Director). Since we all think that is utterly ridiculous and offensive, they will be advocating on our behalf to try and move the three of us into the higher level pay grade. If that doesn't work, i'll be writing a formal request for compensation during the time I worked two positions. It'll be a wait-and-see game.

I feel like I don't have the energy to put into being healthy; i've obviously gotten myself into a funk because of all this work stuff. I know that if I continue to exercise it will help me to at least be able to vent about it, so i'm going to try my best to attend boot camp tonight.

I have put off running for the time being, because 1) of stupid aforementioned funk and 2) I need new runners and i'm not going to continue to kill my shins because i'm too lazy to buy new ones.

I hope to get back to running and eating healthy. I always start my day off well, with oatmeal or a bagel, and I drink lots of water during the day. Lunch is usually small if not always healthy. It's dinner and the evening snacking that is my downfall right now. I just need to get myself motivated again.

Okay, I had a whole paragraph written out and then I x'd out of the internet and lost it all.

What I wanted to say was that I didn't have a great day yesterday. I am one of three people working in this area of the organization that did not receive a pay increase this year. I haven't received a pay increase since 2006. It would be fine if it had anything to do with budget cuts, but some people are getting a 37% increase. That's utterly disgusting and ridiculous. I can't even look forward to a cost of living increase. Please compare for me:  0% increase. 37% increase.

I'm disgusted with my employers, disgusted with the organization I work for, disgusted with the provincial government, and disgusted with the contracted company who performed the market rate analysis on behalf of the organization. What freakin' market did you analyze???

I'm also disgusted that I can do the work of two people for eight weeks straight and it can mean absolutely nothing at all, and yet my co-worker who walks around from office to office all day long chatting away can make approximately $25,000 per year more than I make. Hell, there are people in the same position as me that make over $8,000 per year more!

What is wrong with this picture?

I just have absolutely nothing to say.

A great start to the day:  Someone broke the inside door knob to the ladies' washroom, and we ran out of requisitions to get maintenance to fix it.  So I put a temporary sign up on the door until the Maintenance Supervisor can take a look at it:

"Out of order; door knob broken. If you wish to use, please take emergency cell phone along"

LOL!

Anyways.  It's going to be a busy day today at work, but not yet so that's why i'm updating now instead of later.  Two meetings, presentations going on all day long, food orders, blah de-blah blah.

LMAO - the Maintenance Supervisor just came into my office and said "we're good to go, and I mean literally". Oh, bust a GUT!

My treadmill came yesterday, but I haven't taken any pics of it yet.  It's very narrow, and is interesting to listen to when you get it going.  I did a short try-out on it yesterday.  It's kind of loud, so I blared the music over the noise of the treadmill.  I don't know that i'll be able to run on it, which is what I wanted it for in the first place, but that's okay.

Tonight is boot camp and maybe i'll see if some friends want to watch Charmed tonight as well.  Tomorrow is the first episode of Survivor!  Can't wait!